Posted Feb 26th 2008 10:15AM by Andrew Yoon Filed under: News
Rumors suggest that Ubisoft's upcoming EndWar game may be heading to handhelds. As posted by CVG: "According to several reports, de Plater confirmed the game will making its way to handheld platforms at GDC. That's all we've got to go on, for the moment as nothing official has come from Ubisoft."
Considering Ubisoft's love of going multiplatform, a handheld version of this upcoming Tom Clancy game seems rather likely. Of course, considering Ubisoft's refusal to acknowledge this persistent Assassin's Creed petition, perhaps they will give PSP the cold shoulder yet again.
Every week, PSP and PS3 Fanboy will bring you new backgrounds for your Sony consoles, in resolutions up to 1080p. Download them directly to your PS3 by accessing PS3 Fanboy on your system. Download PSP wallpapers directly to your PSP by accessing the site wirelessly at m.pspfanboy.com.
This weekend, we're focusing on Ubisoft's recently released Assassin's Creed.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 silently released to PSP systems, with no advertising and no coverage. Perhaps Ubisoft was too afraid to send review copies? (As of writing, there are no published online reviews of the game.)
Without the help of critics, we can only look to you, our readers, for sage advice on this game. PSP GadgetZ has once again captured some of the first footage of the game. Does it still look like a N64 game to you?
Driver 76 is heading to PSP soon, and IGN seems to have an early build in their hands. They take the game for a spin, and it looks a lot like Grand Theft Auto. What it doesn't look like, though, is New York. Having lived in NYC all my life, I can't say the low-level buildings and the general lack of life in the game create an authentic facsimile of the city I love. Maybe you can judge for yourself by reading IGN's preview and checking out all of their videos.
Happy 10th un-birthday, Duke Nukem Forever! As we "celebrate" your un-life, we want to think about a PSP game with an analogous development time: Oblivion. CVG reminds us that the title was supposed to launch by now, possibly in time for the recent PS3 release. They contacted Ubisoft for some word on whether or not the title was actually still in development, but they received a noncommittal "no comment."
Gamestop's release date for the title continues to shift, having moved from last year to this, from April to September, back to April, and now December. Do you think Oblivion will ever come out for our system?
The gaming world has been raving about Rockstar's incredibly accurate portrayal of New York City in Grand Theft Auto IV. While PSP won't be getting served with a tiny version of Rockstar's next-gen crime game, fans may want to look towards Ubisoft's upcoming PSP-exclusive Driver 76 for some NYC run 'n gun play. It's been a long time since we last heard about the game, but with the release only a month away, Ubisoft has opened a new official website, filled with new screenshots. We're getting mixed feelings about the presentation: while it looks good up-close, it appears to have the draw distance of an N64 game. Ouch. We're hoping for the best, and for fans of the genre, this may be the only game we'll have to play until Rockstar inevitably adds another GTA game to our library.
CVG is reporting that Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 for PSP has been delayed from March 30th to June and Rainbow Six Vegas from May to a much more ambiguous spring. While Driver 76 slid back to June for more development time. Checking EBgames' website revealed indeed GRAW 2 is listed for June, but neither of the other games were listed at the dates CVG gave. This could just be a case of EB's site not being updated yet though, so make sure you call before rushing out for these Ubisoft titles.
Penguins are as popular as sugar substitutes lately and so it's no surprise that Sony Pictures is making a penguin movie called Surf's Up. It's also no surprise that a game based on the movie is being created. Especially since screens and info on the game were part of the leaked Ubisoft files from last year. Ubisoft seems to be doing a lot of licensed games lately, we'll have to see how this week's TMNT turns out to garner an opinion on whether they're interested in making them more than just cash-ins.
We haven't heard much about the upcoming PSP version of Prince of Persia: Rival Swords. Based on The Two Thrones, the PSP version promises exclusive content, featured in this new video. The footage looks somewhat disappointing, especially graphically: the PSP can certainly do better than this! Considering how the Prince's last foray on Sony's platform was met with general disdain from critics, this newest video doesn't inspire too much confidence.
Free Running from Ubisoft has you participating in the sport of free running, where one must "interact with their environment using movements such as vaulting, jumping, somersaults and other acrobatic movements, creating an athletic and aesthetically pleasing way of moving." (Source: Wikipedia)
If that just sounds like baloney to you, you may want to check out this trailer. It's certainly an interesting concept for a game: but will it be any fun? The game releases March 30th.
Ubisoft and Reef Entertainment sent out a press release stating they will be bringing Free Running to the PSP (and other systems) in the UK in March. The game focuses on the alternative sport of free running that involves jumping across building tops, climbing over obstacles and generally using the city as your playground. Sebastien Foucan the creator of free running was recently in the Bond film Casino Royale and in the game you'll compete against him to become the greatest free runner of all time.
Free Running will feature more than 60 challenges spread over 10 different levels in 3 distinct time zones, each with their own style of gameplay. 9 single and multiplayer modes like freestyle, time attack and ground zero. As you progress, you'll unlock characters, clothes, tricks videos and music.
PSP gamers are all too familiar with games where you drive around and kill people. But that won't stop Ubisoft from releasing Driver 76, an exclusive new addition to the Driver franchise. Driver 76 will feature 27 new missions set in NYC in the 70s (back when it was actually a dangerous place to live). Like a certain other well-known carjacking franchise, this game will feature an open-world environment for you to explore and an "authentic" soundtrack.
While this may seem overly familiar, one feature stands out as a clear draw for me: downloadable content. The press release mentions downloadable paintjobs, but hopefully, we'll also see new game content as well.
The other day I got to thinking about how many antelope it would take to kill a professional wrestler. After I was done thinking about that, I wondered which publisher is the biggest supporter of the PSP. Then I remembered that I have no life and also blog on a PSP site, so I decided to get an answer to that question.
Before I started looking into it, I assumed Capcom would be in first or second place for supporters just judging my library and what I typically see in stores.Surprisingly, they weren't even the third biggest supporter with only ten games on the system. My next hunch was that either EA or Ubisoft (being the giant companies they are) must have the most games on the PSP. They do have a lot of games out, but at eleven games each, they can't take the crown of biggest supporter. Activision did beat out many contenders with their number of games totaling fourteen, but they also were not the winner.
So who is the PSP's biggest supporter? While this may or may not be surprising, it's Sony themselves. SCEA has at least twenty-six games on their own platform and easily bested all comers with their release library. While a first-party publisher winning may be obvious, to many PSP fans (including myself), I often think Sony isn't doing enough to support their portable. While that may or may not be true, they still have by far the most games out on the platform. Let's just hope that Sony as well as other publishers continue to be kind to our beloved portable in this new year.
Egad! It seems like Star Wars: Lethal Alliance is coming out next week. It's usually not a good sign when a game sneaks past everyone's radar until right before it ships. Maybe Ubisoft isn't too confident in their first PSP Star Wars offering? (Anyone know why Ubisoft, and not LucasArts is publishing this?) The new videos that IGN have put up showcase a weird mix of the Star Wars and Matrix universes, with the main character being far more nimble and acrobatic than I'm accustomed to. Unfortunately, it appears that the game looks nowhere as nice as it does in the still shots (shown above). The textures seem a lot worse, and the framerate appears to barely chug along.
Maybe I'm wrong (and I hope I am!). I'd love to see a decent Star Wars game on our platform. Read IGN's impressions to find out more.
Retailers have been great at revealing upcoming announced games. Remember how we spotted Oblivion for PSP at Gamestop? Sure, there were tons of denials, but truth was: it was real. (Pictures here.)
Gamestop has revealed yet another interesting listing: Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 for PSP. The first GRAW was a critical success. Hopefully, the sequel will be able to capture even a small part of the original's excellent gameplay. We have the PS2 version of the first GRAW pictured up here, and we're confident that Ubisoft can get the PSP version looking close to the visual fidelity of this game. I mean, look at the awesome work they're doing on Rainbow Six: Vegas.
Ubisoft and Reef Entertainment sent out a press release stating they will be bringing Free Running to the PSP (and other systems) in the UK in March. The game focuses on the alternative sport of free running that involves jumping across building tops, climbing over obstacles and generally using the city as your playground. Sebastien Foucan the creator of free running was recently in the Bond film Casino Royale and in the game you'll compete against him to become the greatest free runner of all time. 
The other day I got to thinking about how many antelope it would take to kill a professional wrestler. After I was done thinking about that, I wondered which publisher is the biggest supporter of the PSP. Then I remembered that I have no life and also blog on a PSP site, so I decided to get an answer to that question.
